FLINT, MI--On Saturday, area police officers hosted a basketball tournament in downtown Flint to build relationships with Genesee County youth.

About 140 children--35 teams of four players each--laced their tennis shoes on Saturday morning and played in the Stop The Silence basketball tournament, which took place in the Flint DDA Flat Lot with eight portable Gus Macker basketball hoops.

The event was collaboration between the University of Michigan-Flint Department of Public Safety, Flint Police Department, Michigan State Police, Genesee County Sheriff Department, and Mott Community College Department of Public Safety, and the UM-Flint Student Government.

Contestants began playing at 8 a.m. Around 11 a.m., area resident John Edmond spoke to the audience about losing his 7-year-old daughter Mya from an accidental shooting during a drug rip. Afterward, the event hosted a free throw competition between Club 93.7 radio host Clay, rapper 1000 Bars, and Flint Police officer Jesse Carpenter. Contestants in the tournament would play until Saturday evening, organizers said.

The tournament was developed after a round table of local law enforcement lead by Ray Hall, chief of University of Michigan-Flint Public Safety, traded ideas to of how to build relationships with Genesee County citizens, especially young people. Officers hope that building relationships will help encourage people to step forward to help police solve crimes.

"This isn't about liking the police or not liking the police; this is about taking care of each other and realizing we're all in it together," Hall said.

"It could be your house that's broken into, and it could be you that's violated in some way," Carpenter added. "We need to speak up for each other, not just ourselves."

Carpenter said people often don't speak to police because of "peer pressure, being so young and not being able to research their facts. About 40 officers were at the tournament, speaking to attendees and watching the basketball games, and several police cars were on the flat lot.

"It's showing that the police officers are humans, too," said Jesse Carpenter, executive director of Police Activities for the Flint Police Department. "They aren't down here (at the tournament) to do traffic stops, they aren't down here to do drug raids, they aren't down here with helicopters."

Officers believe that trust can be built through events like Saturday's tournament, and by interacting with young people in more casual settings. Carpenter said the department also has a summer day camp at the department building on Forrest Hill that includes children's activities, field trips, and three meals a day. The department is also partnering with the Crim Fitness Foundation and the Ruth Mott Foundation to initiate year-round sports programs. The plan is to speak to 5,000 children over the next three years.

Flint resident Kemisha Brown sat in one of the bleachers, watching her boyfriend's children play under his coaching. The kids already play in AAU tournaments, she said, and their grandfather signed them up for Saturday's festivities.

The Stop The Silence basketball tournament is a good start, she said, but police need to do more to build relationships with constituents.

"They don't have nothing for kids no more, so (children) run around and try to figure out stuff to do for themselves because there's nothing for kids to participate in," Brown said. "They need to have more things: dances, talent shows, anything."

But residents aren't off the hook--they have to hold up their end of the bargain too, she said.

"People stereotype, people don't like the police for whatever reason, but the police are just doing their job," Brown said. "Some (officers) take it overboard, but that doesn't mean you go around disliking the police, because you still have to follow the laws."